Fjelberg Municipality

Fjelberg is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1965. The area is now part of Kvinnherad Municipality in the traditional district of Sunnhordland in Vestland county. The administrative centre was the small village located on the island of Fjelbergøya where Fjelberg Church is located. Other villages in the municipality included Sæbøvik, Høylandsbygda, and Eidsvik.
Prior to its dissolution in 1965, the municipality was the 440th largest by area out of the 525 municipalities in Norway. Fjelberg Municipality was the 370th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about. The municipality's population density was and its population had decreased by 0.4% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The parish of Fjældberg was established as a formannskapsdistrikt on 1 January 1838. According to the 1835 census the parish had a population of 2,986 at the time.
In 1855, Eid Municipality was merged with Fjelberg Municipality, creating a new, larger Fjelberg Municipality with a population of 4,794. In 1865, the southwestern parish of Vikebygd was separated from Fjelberg Municipality and merged with a part of neighboring Finnaas Municipality to create the new Sveen Municipality.
On 1 January 1898, the southern part of the island of Huglo was transferred from Fjelberg Municipality to the neighboring Stord Municipality. On 1 July 1916, the southern part of Fjelberg Municipality was split off to form the new Ølen Municipality, leaving Fjelberg Municipality with 1,926 inhabitants.
On 1 January 1965, as part of the nationwide merging of municipalities as suggested by the Schei Committee, Fjelberg Municipality was dissolved and the following areas were merged to form a new, much larger Kvinnherad Municipality:

all of Fjelberg Municipality
all of Kvinnherad Municipality
the areas of Skånevik Municipality located north of the Skånevikfjorden-Åkrafjorden from the village of Åkra and to the west
most of Varaldsøy Municipality, except for the Mundheim area which went to Kvam Municipality
Name

The municipality is named after the island of Fjelbergøya since the first Fjelberg Church was built there. The first element is the prefix which means "much" or "many". The last element is which means "fair wind" or "favorable wind". Thus it is a place with many kinds of good winds for sailing.

Churches

The Church of Norway had two parishes within Fjelberg Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Fjelberg prestegjeld and the Nordre Sunnhordland prosti in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.

Parish	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Eid	Eid Church	Eidsvik	1824
Fjelberg	Fjelberg Church	Fjelbergøya	1722

Geography

The municipality originally was much larger, but over time it was reduced in size so that upon its dissolution in 1965, it included the islands of Fjelbergøya, Borgundøya, and most of Halsnøya, as well as some small surrounding islands and the Valen area on the mainland. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Skorafjell, tripoint on the border with Kvinnherad Municipality and Skånevik Municipality.

Government

While it existed, Fjelberg Municipality was responsible for primary education, outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the Sunnhordland District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Fjelberg Municipality was made up of 21 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors

The mayor of Fjelberg Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position:

1838–1851: Rev. Laurentius Stub Koren
1852–1853: G. Gautesen
1854–1859: Iver Iversen Rødtvold
1860–1861: G. Gautesen
1862–1868: Axel Rosenkrantz Larsen Undahl
1869–1877: Niels Johnsen Sjo
1878–1893: Nils Juel
1894–1904: Aadne Skaalnes
1906–1907: Henrik Sjo
1907–1908: Johannes Øvrevik
1908–1910: Jørgen Haugland
1911–1928: Henrik Sjo
1929–1942: Erik H. Eide
1942–1945: Johannes Tofte
1945–1949: Rev. Sverre Aarseth
1949–1955: Hilmar Eide
1955–1964: Jon Solheim